*please read an important message in bold type at the end of this post to avoid any miscommunications.

In 2010, one of the priorities was to bring the community a fresh new theme. After 3 consecutive hires the delivered results were still not good enough. So, I raised the bar and contracted our own Daniel Hellier (a.k.a Dan) to think outside of the box and deliver something that is unique, yet something that stays within our objectives. In light of future development, apart from being visually pleasing, the priority was set to produce a functional interface that allows anyone to reach any product/service with a single click. Hence, the idea of a central navigation menu (similar to the experience of a universal remote control) that takes you anywhere within our resource was set in motion.

Additionally, we wanted to cut through the clutter and focus on just those components and bits that are of highest informational importance.

To make things more interesting, and to offer community members a choice, I have also approached Chris Rowe (a.k.a cpr) to re-work Dan's design. Given the amount of feedback that Chris has offered throughout various stages of the process, the idea was not to deviate too much from the original design, rather offer a solid unique alternative.

I am thrilled to bring to your attention two designs that are now in your hands! Please take your time to review both themes presented by these terrific designers and vote for your favorite.

What to pay attention to.

Please pay attention to the overall design/theme instead of content of the page. Banners and certain page elements, as well as their size/location might and can be changed at a later time. At this point in time we are looking for the direction that we will most certainly stick to, as the chosen theme will be inherited throughout the site and integrated into all apps, tools and services released in the future - in order to deliver a seamless browsing experience. In other words, no matter whether you are browsing a forum, conducting business in the marketplace, reading a blog or working with any other application, you will certainly see the same top navigation menu and controls, with the rest of the page designed to match the theme.

Take your time in picking your favorite design. This poll will run for a while without a particular expiration date for now, which will be set at a later time.

We thank you for taking the time to vote! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Campaigning talk (ex: "Vote for X - he is a good guy!" or "I voted for X") and negative/disruptive comments are NOT ALLOWED. They will be deleted and infractions might be issued.

Well I don't know if I'll get an infraction for this or not but just some comments regarding the design that cpr did. Some elements seem to be right out of a website (I cannot remember the link therefore my statement is kinda pointless).

I do have a question - have of these been paid for? If so, couldn't you pick a default skin but also get the other one coded up for people who might want to use it? Just an idea - the skins seem to be pretty similar in structure so it might not be a huge amount of work.

Well I don't know if I'll get an infraction for this or not but just some comments regarding the design that cpr did. Some elements seem to be right out of a website (I cannot remember the link therefore my statement is kinda pointless).

<Mod note: edited.>

Yea very pointless. Please do try and recall where you've seen these so called 'elements' as I'd love to see them.

It took me a while to decided which direction I wanted TFL to go in. It was tough as they are both very good designs, kudos to both of you. But I do agree in the possibility of coding both and letting users decide. However it may be a waste of resources, if you've paid for it why not offer it as a free download? People always love things that are free (have to be a member first).